????然而,，與此同時(shí)，Kickstarter接受了一款類似的產(chǎn)品Galileo.。今春,，這款產(chǎn)品吸引眼球的推廣視頻在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上被眾多博客廣為轉(zhuǎn)載,，項(xiàng)目最后籌資超過70萬美元。Galileo的開發(fā)者杰本?貝維特是Joby創(chuàng)始人,，Joby生產(chǎn)的Gorillapod可變?nèi)浅潆姷鬃L(fēng)行一時(shí),。到目前為止，Swivls已銷出1,500臺(tái),，但產(chǎn)品當(dāng)初準(zhǔn)備上市時(shí)必須與Galileo的Kickstarter眾籌項(xiàng)目爭奪媒體關(guān)注度,，盡管后者當(dāng)時(shí)只有一款原型機(jī)?！皼]出貨之前,，一切都是虛的，”蘭姆說,。

????這話或許沒錯(cuò),，科技產(chǎn)品的高失敗率就是證據(jù)。數(shù)字面前,，蘭姆也難以反駁,。Galileo的籌資額超出Swivl近3000%，它的成功主要?dú)w功于眾籌推廣,?？偛课挥谶~阿密的Max Borges Agency只代理科技產(chǎn)品，目前已經(jīng)代理了十幾個(gè)Kickstarter項(xiàng)目,，其中就包括Galileo,。為吸引更多眾籌客戶，Max Borges Agency引入了創(chuàng)意定價(jià),，幫助資金緊張的項(xiàng)目購買推廣服務(wù),。根據(jù)自己對(duì)產(chǎn)品信心的強(qiáng)弱，Max Borges Agency可以收取較低的預(yù)付費(fèi)用,，之后根據(jù)募資金額按比例提成，或者如果眾籌目標(biāo)未能實(shí)現(xiàn),，它甚至干脆不收錢,。創(chuàng)始人麥克斯?伯吉斯認(rèn)為這樣的客戶更具挑戰(zhàn)，因?yàn)樗麄儾皇侵放?，通常甚至沒有樣品可送至媒體,。他說：“我們其實(shí)賣的是點(diǎn)子，希望人們能接受,?！?/p>

????如果產(chǎn)品走俏，也可能會(huì)帶來不利的一面,。Kickstarter名氣越來越響,，項(xiàng)目越來越技術(shù)化,，產(chǎn)品設(shè)計(jì)師可能最終有負(fù)眾望。不同于只需應(yīng)付幾個(gè)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資人,，他們必須撫慰多達(dá)幾千名小投資人,。即便是輕松的小規(guī)模眾籌項(xiàng)目，比如Power Laces,，（它籌集了2.5萬美元,，希望實(shí)現(xiàn)科幻電影《回到未來》（Back to the Future）中描繪的自動(dòng)系鞋帶），一旦延遲,，有些投資人就會(huì)不耐煩地跺腳,，要求公布進(jìn)展。Kickstarter最初的項(xiàng)目大多比較簡單,，確實(shí)有其道理,。因?yàn)楹唵蔚捻?xiàng)目容易執(zhí)行。

????但更糟糕的情況是沒有完成籌資目標(biāo),。馬修?里沃德的項(xiàng)目在Kickstarter網(wǎng)站上還可以掛8天,，這8天很關(guān)鍵，因?yàn)樗x籌資目標(biāo)還差2.8萬美元,?；蛟S，他應(yīng)該學(xué)學(xué)獨(dú)立音樂家阿曼達(dá)?帕爾默是如何成功籌資120萬美元的,。帕爾默承諾如果有人肯出1萬美元,，她會(huì)突然登門造訪，給他們化上華麗的妝容,，拍照留念,，請(qǐng)他們吃泰國菜，一醉方休,。如果你看過里沃德在《夏日捕手》（Summer Catch）里的表現(xiàn),，你就知道酒是個(gè)好東西。

????譯者：老榆木

????In the meantime, Kickstarter accepted a similar product dubbed Galileo. The device's slick promotional video was picked up by blogs all over the internet this past spring, and the project raised more than $700,000 in funding. It was developed by JoeBen Bevirt, a founder of Joby, the company that brought the popular Gorillapod line of flexible tripods to market. To date, almost 1,500 Swivls have sold, but when units were ready to ship, it had to compete with Galileo's Kickstarter campaign for media coverage -- even though the latter was only a prototype. "Until it actually ships, it's vaporware," Lamb argues.

????That may be true — as the high failure rate of tech products attests — but Lamb can't argue with the numbers. Galileo out-raised Swivl by nearly 3000%, a success largely attributable to the marketing put into its campaign. Miami-based Max Borges Agency, which only represents technology products, has worked with around a dozen Kickstarter projects, including Galileo. In an effort to engage more crowd-funded clients, the agency has introduced creative pricing to help the cash-strapped projects pay for the publicity services. Depending on its confidence in the product, the firm may charge lower up-front fees, work for a percentage of the funds raised, or, in some cases, charge nothing at all — if the campaign's goal isn't met. Founder Max Borges views these clients as more challenging because they are not name brands and often have no have samples to send out to the press. "You're really selling an idea and hoping that people are going to latch onto it," he says.

????And if the products do catch on, there are consequences. As Kickstarter grows in popularity and projects become more technical, product designers will sag under the weight of their promises. Instead of answering to a few venture capitalists, they'll have to appease to a few thousand micro-financiers. Even the most light-hearted campaigns — like Power Laces, which raised $25,000 in an effort to build automatically tying shows like in Back to the Future — have seen delays with backers stomping their feet demanding updates. There is a reason Kickstarter's projects were largely simple at first. Simple projects are easy to execute.

????But it could be worse; the campaign could simply fail to hit its mark. With 8 days to go, it's crunch time for Matthew Lillard — he still needs $28,000 to fund his project. Perhaps he should take a page from indie musician Amanda Palmer's $1.2 million campaign playbook. For $10,000, she promised to invade the donor's home, slather them in glam-rock makeup, take photos, feed them Thai food and get them drunk. Hey, if you saw Lillard's work in Summer Catch, you'd know booze could only help.